1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical instrument. More particularly, the present invention relates to a clip device for clipping a laryngeal mask airway and a laryngeal mask airway.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case of anaesthesia or apnea patients, the top priority is the provision of pulmonary ventilation by emergency medical personnel. Among the various respiration sustaining instruments, the laryngeal mask airway (LMA), due to its ease of operability, is a common alternative to endotracheal intubation.
Please refer to FIG. 1 for the structure of a conventional LMA 10P. Basically, the LMA 10P comprises a flexible tubular portion 11P, an inflatable sealing cuff 13P, and an inflation tube 15P. The flexible tubular portion 11P comprises a first opening part 111P and a second opening part 112P. The inflatable sealing cuff 13P is disposed surrounding the first opening part 111P. The inflation tube 15P has one end connected to the inflatable sealing cuff 13P and the other end directing gas into the inflatable sealing cuff 13P.
Please refer to FIGS. 2 to 4 for illustrative diagrams showing the conventional laryngeal mask 10P in use. First, a user may insert the LMA 10P into a patient's mouth by the end having the inflatable sealing cuff 13P, which is in a deflated condition. When the inflatable sealing cuff 13P reaches a deeper part of the mouth, the user has to insert his/her finger into the patient's mouth to bend the front end of the LMA 10P to make the structure of the LMA 10P conform with the structure of the patient's upper jaw. In addition, due to the softness of the LMA 10P, the user may not exert force thereby. Thus, the user has to push aside the tongue with his/her finger to bend the first opening part 111P and the flexible tubular portion 11P to such an extent that they can reach past the upper jaw to the opening of the trachea, as shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 4, it is shown that when the LMA 10P gets to a specific position, the user may then aerate the inflatable sealing cuff 13P from the inflation tube 15P so as to form a sealing mask in the patient's throat. The sealing mask may encompass the opening of the trachea and form an air passage thereby. After that, the user may direct gas, such as oxygen, from the second opening part 112P to maintain the patient's respiration.
Accordingly, during the installation of an LMA 10P, users always have to insert their finger(s) (especially their index fingers) into a patient's mouth to pass the soft, inconvenient LMA 10P through the upper jaw because of the obstruction caused by the patient's tongue. In general, this displacement of fingers may cause two problems. First, there is the risk that the user may be bitten by the patient during the installation of an LMA 10P. Second, in a case where a patient's oral space is overly small, which may be caused by an overly small mouth, an overly tight jaw joint, or an overly thick tongue, a user may encounter difficulty inserting his/her finger(s) into the patient's mouth, resulting in failure to install the LMA 10P.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a clip device for clipping a laryngeal mask airway to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.